Educational

A spic and span hospital environment (on a both surface and molecular level) is an indisputable must in order to promote patient health, lower Healthcare Acquired Infection (HAIs) rates, keep regulatory agencies such as Joint Commission at bay, and score highly on the “always clean” portion of the HCAHPS survey.
Despite the central role an Environmental Services department plays in a hospital’s successful functioning, running such a...

If I tell you that it’s Global Handwashing Day today and that it’s important to spread the word about proper hand washing tell me, what is your first response?
If you’re anything like me, your first reaction might be to yawn and tell me that you mastered handwashing in preschool or kindergarten, right around the time you got your ABC’s down pat.
Well, handwashing, like many things...

In our last post we talked about the importance of proper cleaning in Environmental Services and how many hospitals are unwittingly doing a poor job of it. In a presentation for the CDC on “The Role of Environmental Cleaning in Preventing HAIs”, Dr. Keith Woeltje of the Washington University School of Medicine cited studies that showed that though most hospital surfaces looked clean, their current...

What are CRE?
CRE stands for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Quite a mouthful right? Carbapenem are last resort antibiotics and Enterobacteriaceae are bacteria normally found in the human gut. If we put those together, we’ve got bacteria that are nearly impossible to treat with anything in our current arsenal of antibiotics. They are also lethal. Some strains have been known to kill up to 50% of those people...

Let me tell you a story of the hardest, slowest and costliest floor job in my cleaning history. . .
My girlfriend and future wife was away at school in London and I needed to make some quick money doing extra work. I had stripped floors from time to time with my Dad in our family janitorial business so I figured I would take a floor...

Many of us have been trained to use systems. We use them to be more efficient and productive. There is one system, however, that runs through all areas of our lives that is not helpful but destructive. This system contains very important ingredients (control, dependence, distrust and scarcity) and we find it at work all around us. This system is called FEAR.
Inside of this unconscious system...

I have learned from my many years of experience in the janitorial industry that all too often customers don’t ask enough questions of prospective janitorial vendors. People tend to hire a firm based on price, get burned because of poor service, and repeat the process again and again.
If companies changed the way they hire firms, this wouldn’t keep happening. Most customers have become resigned to...

When people find out OctoClean is a franchisor, they often have questions about why we chose to go the “franchising route” and what the benefits and drawbacks of hiring directly and franchising are. Before I answer this question, I should say that I have a total of 21 years in the janitorial industry and, during that time, have been a part of both company owned...

When the concept of green cleaning was first introduced we had not even seen the first hybrid vehicle. There were no Prius or plug-in electric vehicles of any kind. Very few communities had individual trash cans to separate waste. Green cleaning was outside the box. Now green cleaning is a powerful marketing tool cemented in deception and ignorance.
So, what is green cleaning? Conceptually green cleaning...

When you look at your desk what do you see? Stacks of paper everywhere? Sticky notes reminding you of all the tasks you need to complete?
If your desk is a mess, chances are you are experiencing some level of mental chaos as well. Cleaning up and organizing your workspace will help you to concentrate more, stress less, and be more productive.
Here are a few strategies...